Magnussen shines brightest as F1 rookies signal their arrival on the big stage

17 March, 2014

Kevin Magnussen returns to the pits after a podium finish in Melbourne

Danish rookie Kevin Magnussen put Formula 1’s old guard on notice on Sunday with a stunning second place for McLaren on his debut, at the Australian Grand Prix, in Melbourne.

The 21-year-old’s performance at Albert Park made him the first Dane to stand on an F1 podium, as well as the highest placed debutant since Canadian Jacques Villeneuve made a sensational start with Williams in 1996.

The Woking-based team had been off the podium since 2012 but Magnussen, son of former F1 racer Jan, led the way back with teammate Jenson Button joining him in third after Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo was disqualified from second in his home race.

“It does feel incredible. It’s now crazy to think that we are here,” Magnussen told reporters before Ricciardo’s disqualification, which Red Bull have appealed.

Kevin Magnussen celebrates on the Albert Park podium

“Today I’ve done my first Formula One race, I got on the podium and I did it with McLaren. It’s such a dream come true. I can’t explain how it feels, it’s just unreal.”

The Dane was fast-tracked into F1 by McLaren after he won the Renault 3.5 World Series title last year and impressed in a young driver test.

Lewis Hamilton, in 2007, was the last rookie to make an F1 debut for McLaren – he finished third in Melbourne that year and challenged for the title all season, but had to wait till 2008 before becoming champion.

McLaren felt that Magnussen was so promising that they dropped Mexican Sergio Perez to make way for him.

The Dane, whose father’s F1 career stalled and ended with just one point after he made his McLaren debut in 1995, said it was a “gamble” that had paid off.

Kevin Magnussen walks through parc ferme after the race

“To take a rookie is a gamble in Formula One, especially in a top team,” he told Sky television. “They listened and believed in me and I can’t thank them enough. This has been the best day of my life but I’m sure I’ll have better days ahead.”

“Despite his youth and inexperience, he drove like a man who’d notched up 100 grands prix already,” said McLaren Racing Director Eric Boullier.

The season-opener in Melbourne had promised to be a lottery as teams grappled with the sport’s new technological revolution which includes V6 turbocharged hybrid engines instead of the screeching old V8s.

While Ricciardo’s disqualification left a sour note for Red Bull and local fans, the 24-year-old’s composure over his first race weekend with the team will not be forgotten.

Daniil Kvyat scored points in his grand prix debut

Toro Rosso’s Russian rookie Daniil Kvyat finished ninth to become F1’s youngest points scorer at the age of 19, eclipsing the previous record set by Vettel at the 2007 US Grand Prix.

“It’s a great feeling. It was quite a good race for us, we managed to keep the rhythm very high,” the confident Russian said.

“I think we did a really good job. We were quite good on tyres. It feels like a good step, every session we are learning something.”

Toro Ross Principal Franz Tost was sure there was much more to come, “I’m very happy for Daniil…This is very promising and I’m convinced that this is the first of a long series.”

For the only other rookie in the field Marcus Ericsson the day ended early when an oil pressure problem on his Caterham forced him to retire on lap 27, but on the bright side he ran as high as 12th at one stage.

““Even though my first race in F1 ended with a DNF I’m still proud of the way we fought today. It’s been a very difficult weekend overall, one of the hardest in my whole career, but we still showed a bit of the potential we have in the first laps of the first stint when I passed Sutil and was running well in twelfth,” said Ericsson of his afternoon at Albert Park. (Reuters-GP247)